Overview
- The government authorised a package near €12 billion and the Ministry of Defence says it will sign 15 Programas Especiales de Modernización with roughly €1.5 billion disbursed in 2026, a move reported on Tuesday, November 10, to close contracts before year‑end.
- Key high‑value contracts authorised include a high‑mobility air‑defence system (about €3.397 billion), counter‑UAS systems (about €1.45 billion), a submarine‑launched missile capability for S‑80 submarines (€792 million) and NH90 helicopter modernization (€996 million).
- The Industry Ministry has issued pre‑financing decrees and the government raised the spending ceiling over the summer so most contracts can be awarded by December 31 and counted toward NATO spending targets.
- Officials set a strong industrial condition on the programme with an objective of about 80% of work in Spain and 90% in Europe, and they approved credits and planned 2027 space investments including a national LEO satellite capability and a €492.2 million credit for Spainsat NG‑III.
- Approvals come shortly before the November 29 general election and include a proposed roughly €1 billion bridge contract to sustain FCAS‑related engineering work, a timing that aims to protect jobs and Spain’s defence industrial base while shaping future procurement.